What Does Esther 5:13 Mean in the King James?
Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
What remains fixed in sight can make every other abundance feel weightless.
THE MEANING
Every privilege can be present and still feel like nothing when one unresolved sight controls the scale. Resentment narrows attention until the person before you seems larger than everything you hold.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that enough success will quiet resentment; abundance alone cannot release its hold.
THE ROOT
אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי
einennu shoveh li
GROWS FROM
שוה
sh-w-h
To be equal, fitting, or worth something.
“availeth me nothing” in this verse is einennu shoveh li. The Hebrew says that all this is not equal or worth anything to him while Mordecai remains in view. The word carries a sense of comparison: resentment sets the measure, and every possession comes up short.
ALSO GROWS
shaveh: Equal, fitting, worth something.
שָׁוֶה
The verse uses this word to weigh all Haman has against the sight of Mordecai.
hishvah: Compared or made equal.
הִשְׁוָה
This branch makes the comparison within the verse visible: abundance is measured beside one grievance and found wanting.
יֹשֵׁב
yoshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
To sit, dwell, or remain settled.
The word for sitting also carries the sense of dwelling or remaining. Mordecai is not a passing sight in the line; he is a settled presence at the king’s gate, and that continued presence is what the verse says Haman cannot bear.
ALSO GROWS
moshav: A dwelling or seat.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch links sitting with occupying a place, giving Mordecai’s posture the feel of a continuing presence.
toshav: A resident or settler.
תּוֹשָׁב
This branch echoes the settled quality of Mordecai’s presence in the place where Haman sees him.
THE PATTERN
When attention stays bound to what is withheld, what is already possessed cannot feel sufficient.
And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.THE THREAD
And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.The same Hebrew word שוה appears when Haman argues that the Jews are not worth the king’s toleration. Here, after listing his honors and abundance, he uses that same measure for himself: none of it is worth anything while he sees Mordecai.
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